Going Above and Beyond

The East Hampton Village Board meeting on Friday started off with a presentation to John Hummel, Bruce Rambold, and the Patrick Bistrians — senior and junior — local contractors who volunteered their time and efforts to put the Hook Mill back together again — shingles, arms, and sails, in time for the holidays.
“You’ve gone above and beyond,” said Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., who distributed plaques to the men featuring an antique picture of the mill. “We were keeping our fingers crossed to be ready by the holidays.” He gestured to the foursome. “By golly, they came in and with accurate professionalism, they did the job.”
The board thanked the teams for their “magnanimous gesture.”
The board voted to turn Cross Road, which joins Georgica Road and Apaquogue Road, into a one-way street. In a previous meeting, people who lived on the road expressed their concerns about the dangers, both with line of sight and the narrow path of the 16-foot-wide street.
Andrew Goldstein, who admitted to using the road as his route home on Georgica, asked that it not be changed, and said the sightline problems could be alleviated by reconfiguring the stop line at the intersection of Georgia, Cross, and East Hollow Roads. Mr. Goldstein is chairman of the village’s zoning board of appeals.
Scott Fithian, superintendent of public works, said that the designation of a one-way street was on the advice of Drew Bennett, the village’s consulting engineer, “but we most certainly can revisit this,” he said.
Mayor Rickenbach pointed to “a host of issues” with the road, including drainage, visibility, and the side of the road being torn up by larger trucks that use it as a shortcut.
“Let’s try it,” Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, said of making it one-way. “We can always undo it later, if need be.” The measure was decided.
The board also discussed holding a public hearing on Jan. 20 to lower the size of real estate signs from seven square feet to half that, or less. All efforts to reach the community of real estate brokers would be made prior to the hearing, said the board